Trump has been transactional all his life; he is the poster boy for the phrase ‘quid pro quo’. If you combine that with his ability to lie and create a fantasy world for the uneducated to inhabit, he’s a formidable, malign actor. He has gone through life abdicating responsibility at every twist and turn, dodging the draft, dodging paying taxes, and stealing money from his own charity. He is by any measure a societal pariah, and that’s before we discuss his predatory sexual behaviour that is well-documented.
The fact that millions elected him president of the alleged most powerful nation on earth is a tragic indictment of American society. The argument was that America needed a CEO, not a president. The result is that the American people have now become a cost centre, and Trump is accelerating a shift already underway to establish social Darwinism as the model for the oligarchs’ vision for America. If you don’t turn a profit, you have no value.
What he forgets to tell you is that on that basis, AI should be thrown in the trash, because 95% of companies that have invested in it have seen no return on their investment, which is, incidentally, a mirror image of what happened during the dot-com bubble. On Friday, I’ll be dropping a new deep dive piece on AI and the lies a handful of obscenely wealthy people are selling to the world. Two dangers currently distort the economic picture—the overvaluation of AI stocks and the fiscal drag of tariffs. There are also points of intersection, but the key issue to understand is that the handful of tech oligarchs creating the roadmap for the future of American workers are planning your future in partnership with an inherently corrupt, convicted felon. What could possibly go wrong? But rest assured, when it does, you’ll be on the hook.
For those who say ‘pull the plug, ’ I say seek some help because it’s not going to happen. AI is here to stay, and despite its downsides, it offers enormous potential for good and for well-regulated prosperity. As they say with guns, it’s not the gun that kills you; it’s the person who pulls the trigger that takes care of that. AI is the same; in the right hands, it can change the world for good; in the wrong hands, it can destroy it. Up until now, AI has been about data processing to speed it up and facilitate better decision-making, but its real power lies in its convergence with robotics. I’ll be exploring all the angles in more detail on Friday, but every worker needs to understand that a freight train is coming down the track with no brakes.
Returning to Trump, this is where his transactional nature poses a BIG threat to the bottom 90% right now. Putting aside his unquestioning support for the AI companies, his thoughts are never far away from his next act of extortion. His crypto bribe pipeline, which no doubt facilitates the sale of pardons and the adjustment of tariff rates for extorted nations, operates beyond oversight. This is essential to his plans for continued self-enrichment. Scrutiny is his enemy, just as the truth is, so rest assured, he will do everything in his power to obscure his rampant corruption.
The big swing to Aftyn Behn in yesterday’s Special Election in Tennessee’s 7th District is yet another clear sign of the threat Republicans face in the midterms. Aftyn was a progressive candidate running in one of the deepest red districts, and she turned a 22-point Trump win in 2024 into a 9-point race. If we look at election spending, as reported by the Tennessee Lookout on November 25th 2025, it is noted:
Political action committees (PACs) tied to Democratic donors have spent almost $1.8 million in the race to help Behn, and Republican-tied PACs have spent $2.3 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings as of Nov. 24. The latest spending in the general election comes after nearly $3 million was spent in the primary, mostly to help ensure a Van Epps victory.
In total, Republicans spent around $5.3 million to secure a win in a district where, usually, they would need to spend very little. While Republicans celebrate, there is good reason for Democrats to be optimistic about the result. Added to this, Bhen has now gained important name recognition for any future campaign she might run. There is no question that the Democratic base was impressed by her ‘people first’ campaign.
What you must remember is that just as the bond markets are the ultimate arbiters of Trump’s economic agenda, the Republican donor class will decide when the break with Trump happens as he becomes more toxic by the day. In an administration where Trump is just a shopfront for the objectives of his corporate benefactors, he’s a passenger with a get out of jail free card. Once he becomes a drag on their ambitions or a threat to their expectations, it’s over, and I think he’s moving ever closer to that moment.
In my opinion, this is why Trump is in a hurry to end the Ukraine war. He saw opportunities even before he was elected to profit from the two ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. People need to stop thinking about these conflicts in terms of the human cost and of lives lost. Instead, understand that, to Trump, they are merely real estate opportunities, and death and destruction are simply the fertiliser for the vast economic gains to be had. For Trump, this has NEVER been about a just and sustainable peace; it’s about the money. He’s not stupid; he knows his power to control events is diminishing by the day, and he’s determined to earn as much money as he can with deals signed in office, that will benefit him long after he’s left. He has no problem in stepping into the blood of fallen heroes, while facilitating the rape of broken nations for profit.
I cannot begin to explain the profound, unadulterated evil that is in play in this moment of absolute despair for the victim nations of these conflicts. This is NOT about American interests. NOTHING about this so-called ‘peace deal’ has anything whatsoever to do with peace. It’s time to see them for what they are, unconscionable acts of state-sponsored extortion, with NO MANDATE from the American people. Trump has created a permissive environment for the continued destruction of Ukraine, on the understanding that Trump and his friends can take a cut from reconstruction funds intended to rebuild the nations he has actively helped destroy. Much more than that, he’s looking to control energy infrastructure as well as rare earth mineral rights. This is the sickening reality of who Trump is.
After he leaves office, America will find itself buying rare earth metals and possibly energy, for which Trump has secured a cut on every transaction, as will be the case for Europe's purchase of energy. He wants access to the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to lay the foundations for the biggest grift in modern history in partnership with an indicted war criminal. It’s the same reason he’s happy to launch strikes on Venezuela: the more destruction, the more construction. It should not have escaped your attention that the quiet shadow in the room these days is ALWAYS Jared Kushner, a private citizen who’s Trump’s man managing his cut on all the deals done. As for Witkoff, he’s just Trump’s useful idiot; that’s why Kushner is sent to babysit him. The US has become the state backer of the Trump crime family.
Russia is becoming increasingly aggressive in its opposition to any deal because it is running out of time. Their economy is bleeding men, equipment and money faster than Trump’s bribe pipeline is flooding. That’s why Putin is threatening nuclear attacks on Europe if Ukraine does not capitulate. Trump’s alliance with Putin is NOT geopolitical, it’s born of purely self-motivated greed. He will NOT come to the defence of Europe under Article 5 of the NATO Charter; he has long since halted aid to Ukraine, and he is now merely an international arms dealer to NATO. He brings no benefit to any peace negotiations.
If Europe can’t stand the heat, it should get out of the kitchen, because words don’t win wars against tyrants; only military force can solve the problem. All the talking just gives Putin time and again to regroup. Ukraine have proved to be the army that nations around the world wish they had. Not only are they battle-hardened, but they have also escalated military innovation at a level never seen in such a short time. Public opinion in Ukraine overwhelmingly shows they do not want to concede defeat to Putin. As for corruption, even in a time of war, anti-corruption measures are working in Ukraine, rooting it out without fear or favour, for which Zelenskyy should be applauded.
There are two choices on the table right now: run down the clock, hold on, in the knowledge that the Russian economy is on the edge of collapse. Or flood Ukraine with as much military hardware as possible and create a no-fly zone to deny the skies to Russia. NATO is more than capable of doing this without the US. It is essential to seize all frozen Russian assets and cash them in to finance Ukrainian security. If Europe does not do this, Trump is already seeking access to the money.
It’s time for NATO to expel the US and reconfigure the alliance to deal with the Russian threat, then Ukraine can be given membership. This will create an alliance laser-focused on threats to Europe and its Baltic and Scandinavian allies. Canada would remain an essential part of the alliance. Australia, New Zealand, and other members of the coalition of the willing, many of whom are already NATO partner members, could be offered membership too.
Just as it’s time to reconfigure trade to drive around the US, it’s time to reconfigure global security to do the same. If Trump wants to become a yesteryear relic drowning in $38 trillion of debt inside a fortress of exceptionalism and isolationism, it’s time to let him have his wish. The US is bringing absolutely NOTHING to the party other than trade extortion and the abdication of security responsibility. So they might as well take their bat and ball home and stew in the economic wasteland they are creating for themselves.
Let me be very clear, I am absolutely not advocating against the American people. They should be free to vacation, live and work on the European side of the pond. I have been fighting this war against US domestic tyranny with you shoulder to shoulder, and long may that continue. But we have to stop Trump from dismantling Europe for profit because that’s where this is going, and IT HAS TO STOP.
Here’s the thing: Europe and the UK live in fear of the economic damage Trump can do to their economies through his relentless acts of extortion. Time and again, we have seen governments bend the knee, and that has to stop, too. His threats will mean nothing if the AI bubble bursts, because then all bets will be off as he downs in his own failure. Then it will be every man for himself, and his leverage will be gone. China will be there with open arms for Europe if required. It’s time to get ahead of the curve. We can always look to reset the alliance on new terms once Trump has fled to Saudi Arabia.
That was his objective all along! We were warned that he was “transactional”, way back in 1.0. He was touted as a master deal maker, despite having filed six business bankruptcies. He is in fact “a mob boss” and should never have been allowed any access to a single lever of governmental power! There is NO deal he has ever made where he hasn’t skimmed some money off the top for himself. Never for YOU, just for himself. That’s his M.O..
Those words are exactly what I was thinking but couldn't get them out. A perfect description of Donald Trump.